Efron told ITV1's Daybreak: "I had the chance to work with her on Hairspray, but I was very young and I was a little bit nervous to work with her.

"So I tended to say all the wrong things and I was very bashful around her. When I found out that she wanted to play this role, I was in 100%, and it was really great."

Meanwhile, Efron insisted that he is not fazed by questions about High School Musical, adding: "It's lovely to reflect. I'm very, very grateful for those days - they are some of my fondest memories and I'm still very close with all my friends.

"We get a good laugh every time we see it come on TV or anything like that. It was fun, it was about celebrating life... it was a really uplifting time in our lives."